What the F@#&…Swearing is good for you?

By Kia O. Moore

Shawn eagerly places the key in the front door and turns the knob. He cannot wait to get inside to put on some comfortable clothes, curl up in the bed and release some stress by checking the stats on ESPN. As he is kicking off his shoes he hears a low moan. Shawn walks to the bedroom door and the moaning is now accompanied by a repeated squeaking sound. He swings open the door to find wife getting it on with the Stanley Steamer man. What are the first words you think he will say?

I am sure we all can agree that it would NOT sound like this, “Sweetie…please tell the young man to get off of your naked body.”

According to research found at the Keele University School of Psychology, located in Britain, the most satisfying reaction that would lessen the pain of seeing his wife cheating would sound like this:

“B**CH!!!!Who is this MOTHER F**KER with his GOT D*MN dick all up in my SH*T?!!!!”

Shawn’s next reaction would probably be to beat the guy down.

Research found that there is an unexplained link between swearing and fight-or-flight response. Swearing seems to initiate the fight-or-flight response which accelerates the heart rate, fills the body with adrenaline, and increases aggression.

Shawn has no fear of getting hit back. If he swears through the whole fighting process, the hits he will endure won’t hurt as much. Research found that swearing suppresses weak behavior and builds up the more pain-tolerant machismo within.

Dr. Richard Stephens and his colleagues, John Atkins and Andrew Kingston hypothesized that swearing would actually decrease the individual’s tolerance of pain.

To test their hypothesis, they used 64 undergraduate volunteers. Each person was asked to submerge their hand in a tub of ice water. They were told to keep their hands in the water as long as possible while repeating their favorite curse word. In the next test, the participants were asked to put their hands back in the ice water, but now they had to use a more socially acceptable word which they would use describe a table. Dr. Stephens and his research team was surprised that the participants who repeated the swear word kept their hand submerged in the ice water longer. They believe that the accelerated heart rates of the volunteers repeating the swear word may indicate an increase in aggression.

So the next time you feel the urge to swear, go ahead, especially if you are about to experience some form of physical pain or plan to inflect some.  Just make sure you are in the appropriate setting and with the appropriate people.